In a call with Rudd, "the two leaders expressed their grave concern about the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against civilians near Damascus on Wednesday," the White House said in a statement. They "discussed possible responses by the international community," it said.
Continue After The Break.

In their strongest condemnation of Syria to date, Obama administration officials said on Monday it was undeniable chemical weapons had been used and that there was little doubt the Syrian government was responsible for an attack that claimed the lives of hundreds of men, women and children.
Australia's Rudd, a former diplomat whose country is a close US ally and takes the rotating UN Security Council chair from Sunday, said the international principles behind the events in Syria were clear.
"I do not believe the world can simply turn a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population resulting in nearly 300 deaths, or more, and some 3,600 people hospitalized," he said in a speech in Sydney on Tuesday.
Taking no action, he said, would send a message of impunity to "every autocracy in the world contemplating the future use of chemical weapons".
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White House undeniable that chemical weapons used in Syria
The White House said on Monday that it is undeniable that chemical weapons were used in Syria and that there is little doubt that the Syrian government used them.
President Barack Obama, said White House spokesman Jay Carney, is evaluating the appropriate response to the use of chemical weapons but has made no decision on how to respond. Carney had no time frame for when Obama would decide.
"There is very little doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime is culpable," said Carney. He said it is undeniable that the weapons were used in what he called a violation of an international norm.
At the White House briefing, Jay Carney was furiously deflecting various attempts to get him to acknowledge that what everyone's talking about here is some kind of military campaign. It's not a foregone conclusion, he says.
Syria's use of chemical weapons against its own people is a 'moral obscenity' - John Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US is "all but certain" that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. Kerry made a statement from Washington, DC on Monday afternoon underscoring that the White House has little doubt the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad deployed chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus last week, killing hundreds.
He said that evidence "strongly indicates" that chemical weapons were used in Syria, adding that "we know the Syrian regime maintains custody" of such weapons and has the rockets to use them.
Kerry's remarks are unambiguous as to what the US believes has occurred and he says the "cowardly crime" cannot be allowed to let pass.
"The use of chemical weapons is a moral obsecenity," he says. Kerry says evidence of chemical weapons use "is undeniable."
After extensive remarks which we'll excerpt in a moment, Kerry said the US would act.
He said President Obama "will be making an informed decision about how to respond" and "believes there must be accountability" for those who use them.
"There must be accountability."
Here is the transcript of John Kerry's remarks, as provided by Federal News Service:
SECRETARY JOHN KERRY: "Well, for the last several days President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria. And today I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to the use of chemical weapons.
What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable. And despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.
The meaning of this attack goes beyond the conflict on Syria itself. And that conflict has already brought so much terrible suffering. This is about the large-scale indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all, a conviction shared even by countries that agree on little else.
There is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of chemical weapons. There is a reason the international community has set a clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to eradicate these weapons. There is a reason why President Obama has made it such a priority to stop the proliferation of these weapons, and lock them down where they do exist. There is a reason why President Obama has made clear to the Assad regime that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences. And there is a reason why no matter what you believe about Syria, all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again.
Last night, after speaking with foreign ministers from around the world about the gravity of this situation, I went back and I watched the videos — the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time. It is really hard to express in words the the human suffering that they lay out before us.
As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child, wailing while chaos swirled around him, the images of entire families dead in their beds without a drop of blood or even a visible wound, bodies contorting in spasms, human suffering that we can never ignore or forget. Anyone who could claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass.
What is before us today is real, and it is compelling.
So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts, informed by conscience and guided by common sense. The reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground, like Doctors Without Borders and the Syria Human Rights Commission — these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real, that chemical weapons were used in Syria.
Moreover, we know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place. And with our own eyes, we have all of us become witnesses.
We have additional information about this attack, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead.
Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up. At every turn, the Syrian regime has failed to cooperate with the U.N. investigation, using it only to stall and to stymie the important effort to bring to light what happened in Damascus in the dead of night. And as Ban Ki- moon said last week, the U.N. investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used, a judgement that is already clear to the world.
I spoke on Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Muallem, and I made it very clear to him that if the regime, as he argued, had nothing to hide, then their response should be immediate: immediate transparency, immediate access, not shelling. Their response needed to be unrestricted and immediate access. Failure to permit that, I told him, would tell its own story.
Instead, for five days the Syrian regime refused to allow the U.N. investigators access to the site of the attack that would allegedly exonerate them. Instead, it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide. That is not the action of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons. In fact, the regime’s belated decision to allow access is too late and is too late to be credible.
Today’s reports of an attack on the U.N. investigators, together with the continued shelling of these very neighborhoods, only further weakens the regime’s credibility. At President Obama’s direction, I’ve spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders. The administration is actively consulting with members of Congress, and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons.
But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.
Thank you."
Kerry to make statement on Syria
US Secretary of State John Kerry will make a statement on Syria at 2 p.m. (18:00 GMT), the State Department said on Monday, as the United States weighs options to respond to reports of a chemical weapons attack on civilians near Damascus.
Kerry said in a round of phone calls to his foreign counterparts on Sunday that there was "very little doubt" the Syrian government had gassed its own citizens.
Chemical experts can gather evidence in Syria despite time lapse - UN
The United Nations said on Monday it was still possible for a UN team of chemical weapons experts to gather evidence necessary to investigate last week's alleged gas attack in the suburbs east of Damascus, despite the lapse of time.
"Despite the passage of a number of days, the Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) is confident that the team will be able to obtain and analyze evidence relevant for its investigation into the 21 August incident", UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.
The UN team visited the site on Monday.
Britain said on Sunday that evidence of the attack, which is believed to have killed hundreds of people, could already have been destroyed ahead of the site visit by UN inspectors.
UN team returns to Damascus hotel while 4 mortar bombs hit Old City
A team of United Nations chemical weapons inspectors returned to their hotel in Damascus on Monday after visiting one of the sites of an alleged poison gas attack, a Reuters witness said. Meanwhile four mortar bombs hit Damascus' Old City.
Update:UN chemical arms experts speak to Syria survivors - Ban
UN experts spoke Monday to victims of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria despite their convoy coming under sniper fire, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said.
The United Nations has made "a strong complaint" to both the Syrian government and opposition rebels over the sniper attack, Ban said in a video statement from Seoul.
Despite the "very dangerous circumstances" faced by the team, he said the investigators "visited two hospitals, they interviewed witnesses, survivors and doctors, they also collected some samples."
According to UN officials, the hospitals are in the Moadamiyet al-Sham district near Damascus.
A sniper attacked the UN convoy when it made an initial attempt to enter Ghouta, east of Damascus, where hundreds of people were killed in an alleged chemical weapons attack last Wednesday.
Opposition rebels and the government accuse each other of using the banned weapons.They have also blamed each other for the sniper attack.
Ban said he had instructed his disarmament envoy, Angela Kane, who is in Damascus, "to register a strong complaint to the Syrian government and authorities of opposition forces" over the shooting and to ensure the security of the investigation team.
The six-car convoy went to the Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya where the inspectors visited wounded people and took samples.
Meanwhile four mortar shells hit the historic Old City of Syria's capital Damascus on Monday, wounding several people and damaging an Armenian church, state news channel El Ikhbariya reported.
Damascus's Old City, a world heritage site, has escaped the worst of the fighting, but has been damaged by a number of clashes and stray shells.
Many other historic sites have been looted or destroyed during the country's 2-1/2-year-old civil war.
UN experts at alleged Syria chemical attack site - activist
UN inspectors Monday reached a site near Syria's capital of a suspected chemical weapons attack to launch an investigation, meeting doctors and casualties, an activist said and online videos showed.
"The inspectors managed to enter the town of Moadamiyet al-Sham with civilians, and visited the Red Crescent centre where they met doctors," Abu Nadim, an activist in Damascus province, told AFP via Skype.
Abu Nadim said the inspectors were wearing helmets and bullet-proof jackets and were accompanied by their own security detail, who carried walkie-talkies.
In videos posted online, with faint sound quality, the inspectors appeared in a makeshift hospital, wearing blue helmets and speaking English. A doctor translates for an inspector as a man speaks, next to someone in a surgical mask.
The inspectors can also be seen with a nurse near the bed where a man is lying. One inspector takes notes as the rest of the group looks on.
On Sunday, four days after the alleged attacks in which opposition groups say regime forces killed hundreds of civilians with chemical agents, Damascus gave the green light for a group of UN experts to visit the areas of Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiyet al-Sham on the outskirts of Damascus to investigate.
This came amid mounting pressure and accusations of responsibility against President Bashar al-Assad for the strikes from Western countries, which are weighing military action in Syria.
The UN mission is aimed at determining if a chemical weapons attack actually took place, but will not investigate who was responsible for any attack.
UN experts enter alleged poison gas attack site, test wounded - medic
United Nations chemical weapons experts entered a Damascus suburb hit by an apparent chemical weapons attack and are now testing the victims, a doctor in the rebel-held town of Mouadimiya said on Monday.
"I am with the team now, we are in the Rawda Mosque and they are meeting with the wounded. Our medics and the inspectors are talking to the patients and taking samples from the victims now," Abu Karam, speaking from his mobile, told Reuters.
Syria blames 'terrorists' for firing on UN inspectors
The Syrian regime on Monday accused rebels of firing at UN inspectors as they were heading to the site of suspected chemical weapons attacks near Damascus to begin their investigations.
"Members of the United Nations team... came under fire from armed terrorist groups as they entered the Moadamiyet al-Sham area" southwest of Damascus, state television reported, quoting a Syrian official on condition of anonymity.
State television said that security forces "had escorted (the inspectors) to the site controlled by these groups".
A spokesman for the UN had said earlier that unidentified snipers had targeted the experts, forcing them to change vehicle.
"The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
"As the car was no longer serviceable, the team returned safely back to the government checkpoint," he said."The team will return to the area after replacing the vehicle," he added.
The UN spokesman gave no other details of whether the inspectors were in Eastern Ghouta when the attack took place, or Moadamiyet al-Sham, as state television reported.
Opposition groups accuse President Bashar al-Assad's regime of carrying out chemical attacks in these two areas last week and killing hundreds of civilians.
Damascus has denied the allegations, and on Sunday gave UN inspectors the green light to visit the areas to investigate.
Snipers in Syria shoot at UN chemical inspectors
Unidentified snipers shot at UN fact finding envoy Monday forcing the inspection team to suspend their attempt to investigate claims that chemical weapons had been used near Damascus, a UN spokesman said. A replacement vehicle has been sought after the vehicle carrying the envoy was damaged. The UN team was to inspect a site where poison gas killed many hundreds of people in Damascus suburbs.
No injuries were reported when the first vehicle in a UN convoy was hit as it headed for Ghouta, east of the Syrian capital, but the team had to head back toward their base, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.
"The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers," he said. No injuries were reported.
"As the car was no longer serviceable, the team returned safely back to the government checkpoint," UN spokesman added. "The team will return to the area after replacing the vehicle."
The incident has allegedly forced the UN inspectors to suspend the investigation, a UN spokesman pointed out.
The alleged shooting came after two mortar bombs landed close to the hotel where the inspectors are staying.
The move comes amid calls from Western capitals for military action to punish the world's worst apparent chemical weapons attack in 25 years.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the United Nations investigation team demanded that "all parties allow this mission to get on with the job so we can begin to establish the facts."
He said that: "The team must be able to conduct a full, thorough and unimpeded investigation. I have total confidence in their expertise, professionalism and integrity."
UN team heads to site of poison gas attack outside Damascus
A six-car convoy of United Nations inspectors left a Damascus hotel on Monday and headed to the scene of a poison gas attack outside the Syrian capital last week, a witness said.
The team of chemical weapons experts, dressed in blue U.N. body armour, were accompanied by security forces and an ambulance. They said they were headed to the rebel-held outskirts of Damascus, known as Eastern Ghouta, where activists say rockets loaded with poison gas killed hundreds of people.
UN experts to start investigation of chemical attack near Damascus on Monday
UN experts will start investigating reports on the chemical attack in Damascus’ suburbs on Monday, August 26, UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky said on Sunday.
The UN Mission is preparing to start in the investigation on Monday, August 26, Nesirky said.
The UN Secretary-General informed the mission led by Ake Sellstrom to reveal facts related to the August 21 incident in Damascus’ suburbs. The Mission is preparing to start the investigation on August 26, Nesirky said.
During the consultations with UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane on August 24-25, the Syrian government confirmed that it would cooperate with UN experts and follow the cessation of confrontation in the areas related to the incident, Nesirky said, adding that the warring parties shared responsibility for creating safe conditions for the work of UN experts.
Last Wednesday, the Syrian opposition said the authorities had used toxic agents by delivering strikes on Damascus’ suburbs. The victims exceeded 1,000 people. Damascus named reports as the slander, which undermined the work of UN inspectors in Syria.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said toxic agents had been used from rebels’ positions.
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